Gotham City and Batman have never hurt for lack of mysticism. Whether it was the early days where villains were given Asian physical characteristics and stereotypical names, or a more culturally aware society with smart villains that happened to also believe in unfamiliar gods and a hero with a touch of something otherworldly in his past, the world of the dark knight has always been fraught with a touch of the strange that is based in the mystic world of the Eastern World. Thus, it is no surprise that this would be part of the plot in the manga cross-over novel Batman: Death Mask.

Author Yoshinori Natsume brings his four part comic to life in a single manga of 194 pages, a story not only about Batman and Gotham, but another glimpse into the past, those years Bruce Wayne had yet to find the identity that would allow him to fight crime and become the symbol he needed to be. The plot involves an ancient Japanese mask which is at first just seen as an old antique, worthless to anyone but a collector. The story switches between Bruce’s past at a dojo where he first discovers the mask, and the current time line where a masked killer is going around chopping the faces off people. While at first the ancient mask’s power is attributed to an ancient hallucinogenic substance within the wood, it is then revealed that anyone who puts on the “Death Mask” becomes possessed by a demon, a demon after the soul of Bruce Wayne.

While that is a loose plot analysis by far, going into all the nooks and crannies of Yoshinori Natsume’s Batman: Death Mask would require considerably more time than this author thinks her audience has. Plus, there are other things to talk about. Such as the lack of the Joker. There is a beautiful display of art of all the major villains at the beginning, but none of the Batman villains even make an appearance. One would have thought that the representation of the villains’ gallery would mean at least Joker would show up, but not for Yoshinori Natsume. Oh no, instead we get villains we can’t really connect with because we don’t know who in the world they are.

The artwork flows between beautiful to sub par like a watercolor artist’s paintbrush between blue and violet. It is easy to tell that some portions of the book were crafted carefully while others were rushed, either to get through them to the more juicy bits, or simply to meet some sort of deadline. It’s a mixed batch all the way through, and had the author taken more time with the boring bits, which are, frankly, just as important as the exciting ones, the entire book would be stunning.

Characterization is always hard in a cross-over book, mostly because there are generally characters with an already established attitude, past, and behavioral patterns. Judging new-comers to the book can be harsh, but in Batman: Death Mask, the new characters truly are flat and two dimensional. What could have been a truly more engaging story falls on its face like a clumsy prom date in heels because it is impossible to care about the characters around whom the story revolves aside from Bruce Wayne and Alfred.

Perhaps what Batman: Death Mask is truly guilty of is not being sloppy or poorly written, but being just too short for the story presented. Had Yoshinori Natsume expanded this into even two books, or eight comic books, he would have managed to tell a much better story with characters readers might actually care about. While not the worst cross-over manga this author has ever read, Batman: Death Mask leaves readers disappointed, and searching out something more substantial.